Cate Swinburn is Co-founder, President & CEO of YouthForce NOLA, which fuels a coordinated network of school, community, and business partners who, together, provide young New Orleanians with ready access to the learning experiences and practical resources they need to explore and confidently pursue a wide range of opportunities after high school.

Cate dedicates her visioning, communication, and collaboration skills to forging connections between traditionally siloed stakeholder groups and solving systemic problems. Since YouthForce NOLA’s founding, more than 1,200 public school students have completed an internship with local businesses that are a part of YouthForce NOLA’s network of 250+ local companies. In addition, the YouthForce NOLA network has delivered a tenfold increase in the number of graduates holding a certificate that qualifies them for a great job in fields like carpentry, engineering, graphic design, IT, pre-nursing, and software development. Notably, YouthForce NOLA has played a leading role in shifting the conversation across the New Orleans region to embrace career pathways as critical to expanding options, opportunity, and prosperity for our youth and our city.

A smart generalist with deep experience in a variety of public sector contexts, Cate previously served as President of Educate Now! and, as a consultant, worked with clients including Relay Graduate School of Education, the Recovery School District, and New Schools for New Orleans to develop innovative strategies to address system-level education challenges in New Orleans such as teacher recruitment and training and special education. Cate served as the Chief of Data and Accountability with DC Public Schools in the nation’s capital, President and Executive Director of the DC Public Education Fund, and Portfolio Director for The Fund for Public Schools in New York City. Cate began her career growing and leading as a teacher in rural and urban Texas.

Cate holds a Master of Public Administration from the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at New York University, where she was a Dean’s Scholar, and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Spanish. Cate is an alumnus of both Teach For America and Education Pioneers.

Contact Cate at cate@youthforcenola.org